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HOCKEY; Lemieux Dazzles, but Flyers Tie

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The National Hockey League's new era opened tonight with a showcase game that mixed ragged play, tense moments, a poised veteran with superstar credentials, a jittery rookie with superstar potential, great goaltending, a coach who decided to return and an apparent winning goal that was nullified.

The show, a 3-3 tie between the Philadelphia Flyers and the Pittsburgh Penguins, was carried live across the United States by ESPN, the cable network that has returned to cover the league after the N.H.L.'s unsuccessful four-year fling with SportsChannel America, a carrier that reaches far fewer households.

Those who tuned in saw the professional debut of Eric Lindros, the Flyers' expensive rookie, who showed nervousness early but scored once during a two-goal comeback in the third period. After Further Review . . .

They also saw Pittsburgh's Mario Lemieux, hockey's $6 million man, who scored once and set up another and put on a dazzling performance with eight shots on goal. They almost saw a winning goal by Philadelphia's Brent Fedyk, but that one was disallowed after video review showed that he pushed the puck over the goal line with his arm.

Back behind the bench for Pittsburgh was Scotty Bowman, who coached the Penguins to their second consecutive Stanley Cup championship last spring. After what amounted to a holdout during training camp, Bowman agreed to return Monday night and his employment was announced earlier today.

The star of the game was Philadelphia goalie Dominic Roussel, who stopped 42 of 45 shots. But it was Lindros who drew the eyes and ears of international press corps during and after the game.

"I panicked a couple times," said Lindros. "I usually sleep like a bear from 1 to 5, but I didn't today because I was nervous . . . Yeah, it was fun, a lot of fun." An Absent Mean Streak

Lindros threw a couple of body checks, but his characteristic mean streak was absent, and he sometimes seemed tentative. His first goal, at 31 seconds of the third period, cut the Pittsburgh lead to 3-2 and came after Jaromir Jagr of the Penguins unsuccessfully tried to clear the puck across the crease.

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This sparked a comeback by the Flyers, who had spent the first two periods turning over the puck and chasing Lemieux. Brian Benning of the Flyers got a five-minute penalty and an ejection for spearing Lemieux with a stick to the stomach.

After his goal, "We started moving our feet," Lindros said. "It loosened me up. My game picked up a bit. Sometimes, it takes one bulldozer to get rid of the pebbles."

Lindros makes $3.5 million per season, second only to Lemieux, who signed a seven-year, $42 million contract on Monday.

"He played pretty well for a first game, I thought he was nervous," Lemieux said of Lindros. "The thing he has to do is be patient. With his talent, he can only get better."

As for Lemieux, he is at his peak. He opened the scoring at the 46-second mark of the game when his backhanded shot trickled by Roussel, who didn't make many more mistakes for the next three hours.

Kevin Stevens made it 2-0 on a power play before Fedyk cut the lead to 2-1 late in the first period. Rick Tocchet of the Flyers had the only goal of the second period, on the power play, set up by Lemieux, before Lindros and Doug Evans evened things in the third. SLAP SHOTS

Fans might notice a change in the rhythm of the games this season as the league tries to get in sync with the wishes of television broadcasters. There will be 12 pauses a games, each one lasting 70 seconds, while players, officials and fans in the arenas wait for face-offs. In addition, teams have been told to start games at 10 minutes past the half-hour (at 7:40 P.M. in most cases) so that visiting broadcasters can plan their opening features and commercials. In the past, opening face-offs have taken place anywhere between 7:35 P.M. and 7:42 P.M. The changes were requested by local broadcasters, not by ESPN.

A version of this article appears in print on October 7, 1992, on Page B00009 of the National edition with the headline: HOCKEY; Lemieux Dazzles, but Flyers Tie. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe